


Critical Mission Failure

by MidnightWriter99



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2011-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-18 17:09:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/563420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightWriter99/pseuds/MidnightWriter99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a mission on the edge of the Terminus systems goes awry, Garrus has figure out and fix whatever is going wrong - unless he wants to relive this day over and over and over. Post ME2. Fill for Kmeme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1

The violent shaking of the Normandy SR-2 woke Garrus from his sleep, the force of the movement almost sending him falling to the floor.

  
The Normandy did not just _shake_ for no apparent reason _._   
  
They had travelled to the outer rim of the Terminus systems, investigating a lost Alliance vessel that had gone missing four weeks ago after picking up an ‘artefact’.   
  
That was never a good sign.

  
However, Shepard had picked up the job as a favour to Admiral Hackett ( _after_ they were done repairing the Normandy) hoping to soften up the Alliance for when she slapped them with more information about the Reapers, having told the Illusive Man to go fuck himself not two weeks ago.

  
It was turning out to be a more complicated mission than they’d planned on.   
“Joker, what’s going on?” Garrus called to the pilot as he hit his console in the main battery, activating the comms. Bracing himself as another small shake rattled his work space.

  
“ _For the love of god people._ ” Joker’s exasperated voice yelled back, obviously addressing more than one crewmember at once. “ _We don’t know yet! EDI’s looking into it._ ”

  
Garrus shook his head, grabbed his jacket and pulled it over his head before he made his way out of the battery.

  
“Do you know what the hell that was Garrus?” Hawthorne asked as he rounded the corner by the main living quarters, various crew members were filtering into the corridor, half-dressed or still in their night wear.

  
“No one does, I’m going up to prod Joker about it.” He replied as the elevator opened, revealing Tali leaning against the wall inside.

  
“I was finally getting some good sleep too.” Tali said to him as he joined her and they continued up to the CIC. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  
Garrus gave her a nod in agreement. “Anything that can jolt our mass effect field like that is trouble.”

  
They two of them found Shepard in the cockpit still dressed in her sleeping attire, looking over the data EDI was bringing up on the main console. Arms crossed and a frown on her face.

  
“Oh _Keelah_.” Tali started studying the data intently. “I have never seen anything like that.”

  
“There is a star in the next closest system entering a supernova.” EDI explained.   
“The real kicker though,” Shepard said, her eyes still fixed on the console, “isn’t that, it’s the fact that it’s swimming in dark energy.”

  
“And that’s what interfered with our mass effect field.” Garrus commented, eyeing the data.

  
“Exactly.” Shepard confirmed. “There is so much dark energy in this thing that it is rippling through the entire _cluster_. Not just one system.”

  
“I’ve flown in and back out of the Omega Four relay not two weeks ago, and this is still making me a bit nervous.” Joker shifted uncomfortably in the pilot’s seat.

  
“We should all be nervous.” Tali added. “It’s not just my people who have been investigating this dark energy, I’ve heard people talking about it on Illium and other planets we’ve visited as well. No one knows anything substantial about it.”

  
“We need to be out of here sooner rather than later, Commander.” Joker said. “We get caught when that thing finally blows and we’re in big trouble.”

  
“I agree.” Shepard commented finally. “We’re going into full alert for the next twenty four hours. Get everyone up and extra crew up here to help monitor this thing, get Legion to help from the AI core as well. EDI, expand your scanning range, we need to find this ship.”

  
She then turned to Garrus and Tali standing just behind her. “Tali, get Daniels and Donnelly and reroute any non-essential power to our kinetic barrier and shields. Garrus.” She continued, turning her attention to the turian. “You give them a hand, reroute as much power from the main batteries as possible without completely crippling the guns.”

  
“Aye, Commander.”

  
“Then I want you both suited up and on standby as well. Dismissed.” She nodded at the two and they all got swiftly to work. 

_\-------------------------_

  
“I’ve re-calibrated as much power as possible down to you Tali.” Garrus informed her through their open comm channel.

  
“ _Received_.” Tali replied back quickly from engineering.

  
“ _You are one stingy bastard, Garrus._ ” The turian rolled his eyes at Kenneth’s voice blaring from the comm. “T _hose are some dodgy re-calibrations_.”

  
“ _He’s just grumpy because he hasn’t gotten any coffee yet, Garrus._ ” Gabby butted in, the sound of a slap resonating around the battery.

  
“I wouldn’t want to leave you with nothing to do for the rest of the day while Tali and I are off having fun.” Garrus drawled back to them.

  
“ _Speaking of fun._ ” Tali cut back in. “ _Have you gone up to the armoury yet?_ ”

  
“I haven’t even got my armour on yet.” Garrus responded, he’d gone straight back downstairs and started rerouting power down to engineering.

  
“ _Does that mean you’re naked up there Garrus?_ ” Kenneth blurted out with a laugh. “ _There’s a mental image I didn’t need._ ”

  
He heard Tali start to laugh as another resounding _slap_ echoed from engineering. “ _Could you please grab my shotgun and pistol from there when you do? This is going to take me a little longer to get everything at full power_.”

  
“Can do, see you in a bit.”

_\-------------------------_

  
The mess was a flurry of activity when Garrus re-emerged from the battery. He had narrowly avoided Goldstein - who then collided with one of the girls from navigation, smashing the two cups of coffee she had been carrying right in front of the kitchen area.

  
He kept moving towards the lift as the smell of burning toast filtered through deck three. That distinct odour of burning he’d smelt from the battery far too many times for his liking.

  
He hit the button for the elevator, hoping it wouldn’t take its own sweet time getting to the deck. One day, _one day_ , he hoped humans, or at least the ones on the Normandy - would learn not to burn things right outside where he damn well lived.  

  
The doors gave a soft beep as they opened. Shepard was standing there, dressed in full armour. “Garrus.” She greeted as he stepped in beside her. “Where to?”

  
“Deck two.”

  
“Same here.” She hit the button again and the doors closed. “Donnelly is still bitching about you down in engineering by the way.” Shepard let a smirk creep onto her face. “There was also something about you doing calibrations naked.”

  
“I cannot be held accountable for how Donnelly may be picturing me from the other side of the comms” His mandibles clicked with small laugh. “How are we doing on the whole, ‘find the ship and get the fuck out of here’ front?”

  
“EDI and navigation are still searching; the energy is playing havoc with our syste-.”  
She swore loudly as the as the Normandy shook abruptly once more, sending her crashing into the wall of the elevator next to Garrus, which came to a stop, the lights turning to a red glow as the shaking continued for a few more seconds.

  
“You ok, Shepard?” Garrus asked as she pushed herself off the floor and off of him, and into a sitting position on the floor.

  
“Fantastic.” She groaned, putting a hand to the back on her neck “EDI, status report.”  
“The last wave was more severe than the last, but all systems are stable Commander.” EDIs voice echoed in the small space. “It will take me a few more minutes to safely get the lift back online.”

  
“Thanks EDI.” She let out an exasperated sigh, feeling the damn impact of where she landed on her face.

  
Garrus looked at her again, not really being able to see her face clearly in the red light of the lift. “Shepard.” He leant forward, reaching out and tilting her face up to get a better look. “You broke your face again.” He gave her quick smile as he moved his hand to her forehead, wiping away the blood seeping down to her eyebrow from a new abrasion on her forehead.

  
To his surprise there was no comeback about his scars, Shepard didn’t smack his hand away or make one of her usual self-deprecating jokes about her ‘cyberface’. She just looked back at him, a rare expression of uncertainty on her face. There were so many things they just hadn’t had the damn time to talk about.

  
She slowly took his hand from her forehead and held it in her own. “Garrus, I-“

  
He tugged at her hand, bringing Shepard out of her own thoughts. “What’s wrong?”

  
She just shook her head. “Nothing, we have bigger problems at the moment.” She got to her feet, pulling him up with her.

  
“When humans say ‘nothing’ it always means ‘something’” He prodded. “If living on the Normandy has taught me anything, at least.”

  
Before she could answer the lights turned back to normal and the lift began to move again. “We’ve all been run off out feet for weeks, after all this is done - we’ll talk.” She gave him a quick smile as the doors opened and she took off towards the front of the CIC.

  
_It’s going to be a long day._ Garrus thought as he watched her go, finally moving out of the elevator and towards the armoury.

 

_\-------------------------_

  
The airlock hissed open into the cargo bay of the MSV Khronos. It had taken EDI, Joker, and almost every crew member in navigation almost four hours to locate the vessel in between the dark energy interfering with the Normandy’s systems.

  
They fanned out into the cargo hold, Shepard taking point. Garrus held back, sniper rifle out in front of him. His visor picked up no signs of life, no biotic fields, just the location of several bodies left around the floor. They all read as _deceased_.

  
“I have uploaded the ships layout to all team members.” EDIs voice buzzed over the silence as they moved towards the door to the rest of the ship.

  
“Acknowledged, EDI.” Shepards voice crackled back. “Looks like they took out every marine on the damn ship.”

  
“It was definitely more than just a regular transport.” Tali commented as they moved forward to the doors leading into the rest of the ship. “I’ve never seen this many officers on any of the other human transport ships we’ve been on.”

  
Thane motioned to a body towards the back of the bay. “The Blue Suns have taken this ship.”

  
“Their reach appears to be extending beyond the Terminus systems lately.” Samara noted.

  
“I have a feeling they weren’t out here just for shits and kicks.” Shepard pulled up her omni- tool displaying the ships layout. “Alright, the engineering deck is below, first deck up the stairs.”

  
“Most of the chatter is coming from there.” Tali added. “What about the second and third?”

  
“Very little, they’re mostly congregated on the first floor. But, there is a large energy signature as well.”

  
“Most likely artefact.” Mordin added. “Blue Suns keeping minimal staff on upper levels. Must think energy is harmful.” His omni-tool flared as he scanned above them “Unlikely. Details not mercenarys strong points.”

  
“Alright.” Shepard’s omni-tool disappeared from her arm. “Tali, you take Mordin, Thane and Samara. Secure the first floor, mine any data from the ship that you can. Garrus and I will head up and secure the artefact”

  
“Aye, aye commander.”

  
Tali hit the controls for the main door out of the cargo bay. Taking point, she ushered Mordin and Samara behind her. Thane followed behind, replacing his pistol with the sniper rifle on his back. Shepard gave Garrus a nod and they followed close behind, splitting off from Tali and the others at the first floor and heading upwards.

  
“This is… a bit too easy.” Garrus said to Shepard as she cleared out the last merc from the third floor.

  
“I’m getting that feeling as well.” Shepard replied as the moved towards the back of the room. “Tali, status report.”

  
“ _We almost have the area secured, no problems._ ”

  
“Good job, keep it up.” Shepard replied back, before turning to Garrus once more. “Picking up anything?”

  
“Whatever’s giving off that energy is messing up my readings.” He tapped his visor in annoyance.

  
“Hold back and cover me.” She ordered. “Hopefully there won’t be any more god damn mercs left.”

  
Garrus took cover behind one of the cargo boxes littered throughout the room. _They were definitely looking for something._ He thought, watching Shepard do the same, pistol in front of her as she cautiously made her way across the room and towards the corridor at the back.

 

“S _hit!_ ”

  
Her attention snapped over past the doorway as a Blue Suns Commander rounded the corner. Garrus let off rounds from his viper as Shepard tried to use her biotics to push him back so she could take cover once more.

  
Both of their efforts did nothing. His kinetic barrier barely flickered as they both attacked. Garrus let off more rounds towards the Commander as the merc aimed his gun and fired.

  
Shepard was in the process of putting up an additional biotic barrier, the shot should have damaged her kinetic barriers - which would have been quickly supplemented by her biotics.

  
Instead he watched as the fire from the shotgun ripped through her kinetic barriers as her biotics flared, nothing being able to stop the blast from destroying her chestplate, sending her backwards in one quick, bloody explosion of organic and synthetic material from her chest.

  
“Shepard!”

  
_Not again. Not. Again._

  
The Commander turned to his position at the farther end of the room, but as Garrus popped the heat sink in his viper and loaded up another clip, a blinding light emerged from the back of the floor, engulfing the mercenary. He shielded his eyes as the ship shook and crackled around him.

  
It felt almost instaneous as his body lurched backwards, his world still shaking around him as he landed on something cold, hard, his head pounding. _Fuck, I have to get to her. I have to – what if she’s - h_ e opened his eyes as everything continued to shake, a familiar red glow telling him exactly where he was.

  
Back in the main battery of the Normandy.


	2. Day 2

Garrus pushed himself up from the floor of the main battery as the Normandy finally stopped shaking, realising he was no longer in his armour. He was wearing the exact same thing he wore that morning. “What the-”  
  
Garrus turned and hit his console. “Joker.” He called to the pilot, steadying himself as another small shake rattled the ship. “What the _fuck_ is going on?”  
  
“For the love of _god_ people.” The exact same exasperated response he’d heard from Joker the first time echoed through the battery. “We do not know yet! EDI’s looking into it, and you kiss your mother with that mouth Garrus? Jesus.”  
  
He clicked the comms off once again. Still leaning against the console he checked the date and time.  
  
Same date. Exact same time the Normandy had been hit earlier that morning.  
Garrus tried to decide whether whatever had been on that ship had just launched him back over seven hours, or whether the stress and grief of just - _everything_ in the past two years had finally caught up with him and he was finally losing his mind.

_And if I haven’t lost it, who the hell is going to believe me._

He finally took a few deep breathes before once again grabbing his jacket, pulling it over his head and leaving the battery.

It was all the same. The mess was empty, and the crew were wandering out of their quarters trying to figure out what going on.  

“Do you know what the hell that was Garrus?” Hawthorne asked again as he came into view.

“Um, no idea.” He lied, continuing towards the elevator. “Going to go ask Joker about it.” Everything was the same, where the crew was, what they said. _So I should just follow it though again, figure out what caused the…loop?_

“I was finally getting some good sleep too.” Talis voice brought him out of his thoughts when the doors to the elevator opened. “I have a bad feeling about this.” She said as he stepped beside her, door closing again.

“So do I.” Garrus agreed, _you have no idea how right you are._

He listened to his friend talk about her theories behind the disturbance once more as they approached the CIC, looking at the familiar figure of Shepard standing behind Jokers chair in the cockpit. Arms crossed and the same frown on her face when she momentarily turned to look back at them while EDI continued to feed the collected data through the main console.  
  
“Oh _Keelah_.” He heard Tali say. “I have never seen anything like that.”  
  
He noticed EDI pop up on her holo this time before she spoke. “There is a star in the next closest system entering a supernova.”  
  
“The real kicker though,” Shepard said, rolling her head from side to side in annoyance, “isn’t that, it’s the fact that it’s swimming in dark energy.”  
  
“And that’s what interfered with our mass effect field.” Garrus commented, on cue.  
“Exactly.” Shepard confirmed. “There is so much dark energy in this thing that it is rippling through the entire _cluster_. Not just one system.”  
  
 _How the hell am I going to fix this?_ Garrus thought as he tuned out of the conversation repeating in front of him. _Is it a one-time thing or is it going to keep happening?_ He exhaled slowly trying to think back to exactly what happened.  
  
It was already getting a little fuzzy as the time ticked forward again. _We made it to the top floor, Shepard was shot – it looked bad, but why would that cause me to…travel back in time?_  
  
 _Spirits, it’s like one of those human science fiction movies Joker goes on about._

“Garrus.” Shepard’s sharp tone brought his attention back to her. “Did you hear a damn thing I just said?”  
  
“Dark energy, reroute power down to engineering immediately - without killing the power to the guns entirely.” He recited back. “I heard you, Commander.”  
  
She raised an eyebrow at him, suspiciously but continued. “Good. I want you both suited up and on standby as well once you’re done, dismissed.”  


_\-------------------------_

  
After making his way back down to the main battery Garrus found recalibrating the power back down to engineering easier the second time, Kenneth still calling him a stingy bastard and getting repeatedly slapped by Gabby for being ‘an ass’.

It was still funny the second time around.

After promising to grab Talis gun for her he signed off the comms, finally moving to put his armour on -  trying to figure out his next move. Assuming he wasn’t currently a high functioning form of insane.  
  
He considered going to see Mordin. The salarian was without a doubt brilliant, but he wasn’t sure he could go ask him about travelling through time and not be benched by Shepard if Mordin mentioned it to her. If he wasn’t on that ship he had no damn chance of making sure she wasn’t shot again.  
  
 _Or there’s Joker._ Garrus pondered as he pushed the last of the seals on his armour shut. _He can at least give me a theoretical insight into this ridiculousness._ The turian shook his head at the realisation that he’d just put the words ‘Joker’ and ‘theoretical insight’ in the same train of thought.  
  
Setting out in the chaos of the mess once more he scanned the familiar scene. “Gardner!” He called over the noise. “The bread is about to burn.”  
  
The mess sergeant looked at him perplexed before looking over to the appliance with a cry of “Oh, shit!” and popping it out just as it _was_ about to burn.  
  
Garrus kept walking forward towards the kitchen, holding back for a moment and grabbing the back of Goldsteins shirt as he was about to collide with the girl from navigation carrying the coffee mugs.  
  
“Woah!” Goldstein cried as he was abruptly stopped, the girl passing right by where he was about to step. “Thanks Garrus.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it.” He replied, continuing his way to the elevator, no smell of burning causing him discomfort this time. The more events he was able to change the less crazy he felt as well.  
  
He hit the button to call the elevator, hearing the soft beep of the doors as they opened. Quickly remembering the last time he was in the lift as it opened, Shepard standing exactly where she was before.  
  
“Garrus.” She greeted again as he stepped into the lift beside her. “Where to?”  
  
Shit, he still had to grab his and Talis weapons and _then_ go talk to Joker. “Ah, Deck two.”  
  
“Same here.” She hit the button again and the doors closed. “Donnelly is still bitching about you down in engineering by the way.” She said to him, that smirk on her face. “There was also something about you doing calibrations naked.”  
  
“I have no control over Kenneths sick imagination, Shepard.” Garrus laughed again, this time turning to face her, maybe this time he could stop her from busting her forehead up against the wall. “How’s the search for the ship going?”  
  
“EDI and navigation are still searching; the energy is playing havoc with our syste-.”

Garrus braced himself as Shepard swore loudly when the Normandy abruptly began to shake; he caught her as she was sent flying in his direction, both of them hitting the wall of the elevator as it came to a stop, the red emergency lights coming on as the shaking died down.    
  
“Shepard?” He asked, looking down to the woman pressed against his chest armour.  
  
“I’m good.” She groaned, pressing her hands against his armour for support as she willed her head to stop spinning. “EDI, status report.”  
  
“The last wave was more severe than the last, but all systems are stable Commander.” EDIs voice echoed back to them. “It will take me a few more minutes to safely get the elevator back online.”  
  
“Thanks EDI.” Shepard replied with a sigh, Garrus’ arms releasing her as she stepped back to collect herself. “Sorry about that.” She said, that same uncomfortable silence between them happening again.  
  
“What’s on your mind?” He asked, breaking the silence.  
  
“What makes you think there’s something on my mind?”  Shepard countered, moving to lean against the wall beside him.  
  
Garrus gave a small shrug. “You look like you do and,” he motioned to their still surroundings, “we have a bit of time.”  
  
Shepard was silent for a moment, the air of tension between them feeling thicker than before. “I was wondering if you were…” She started. “Still interested.”  
  
“In you?”  
  
“In us.”  
  
Garrus let out a sigh of relief, that’s exactly what _he_ had been wondering for the last two weeks. “Of course I am.” He replied. “I… just wasn’t sure if you were.”  
  
Shepard let out a laugh. “I feel a little stupid for worrying so much now.”  
  
“Yeah.” Garrus drawled. “That feeling is mutual.”  
  
“Good thing too.” Shepard said, pushing herself from the wall. “The whole point of a ‘tiebreaker’ is to decide a clear winner, not cause another tie.”  
  
Garrus’ mandibles clicked in amusement as she gave him that _smirk_ again _._ “Is that a challenge, Commander?” He asked closing the space between them.  
  
Shepard just smiled, placing her hands on front of his armour and pulling his face down to hers. His hands found their way to her waist, moving her closer as she kissed him.   
  
Which was the moment the lights came back on, and the elevator began moving again.  
  
 _Of course._  
  
Shepard quickly pressed her forehead against his own before moving backwards as the doors opened. “Remember, make sure you’re ready to go when we find that damn ship.”

He nodded to her as she turned and walked down through the CIC, before taking off towards the armoury.

He could _not_ allow another fuck up this time.

_  
\-------------------------_

  
Garrus had made his way back up to the CIC after he had gone to see Tali and dropped off her weapons, his mind racing through ways to approach the subject with the Normandy’s helmsmen.

“Joker.” Garrus addressed the pilot as he walked up beside his chair. “I have a question for you.”

The pilot gave a grunt in response. “Kinda busy here Garrus.”

“I’ll get you those magazines you wanted next time we dock.” Garrus offered.  
  
Joker paused for a moment before his hands continued to wander over the screen in front of him. “Fine, go.”  
  
“In theory,” Garrus began, “if you were repeating the same day over, how would you stop it?”

Joker raised his eyebrows at the turian. “What, like a time loop?”

“Yeah, I guess.”  
  
“In theory, something in that period of time would have to be corrected, you have to find out what’s causing the loop and fix it.” Joker explained. “If all those vids I watched as a teenager taught me anything at least.” He pondered as his attention was drawn back to more data EDI was sending through to him.

“Thanks.” Garrus replied, taking his leave before Joker began to ask questions.

“You owe me.” Joker called out to him. “And lay off the booze until we get to the Citadel or Shepard will be pissed, damn.”  


_\-------------------------_

  
The run through the Khronos had gone as before, he and Shepard split off from Tali and the others. Making their way upwards towards the artefact, Garrus’ nerves built as they closed in.

“Shepard.” He started as they made their way through the second floor. “What would you say if I told you I had… lived through this day before.”

“I would say.” Shepard replied, not missing a beat. “Did you get drunk again with Tali last night, and if so I’m disappointed that you not only disregarded my request to wait until we go to the Citadel to get trashed.” She ducked out of cover, pushing a few mercs near the door back with her biotics. “And then angry that you didn’t even bother to invite me.”  
  
“I didn’t get drunk with Tali last night.”  
  
“Then you need some serious shore leave, Garrus.” She remarked. “Come on, we’re almost there.”  
  
 _Damn it._ He thought as she rounded the corner, heading towards the stairs that would lead them up to the third floor.That defiantly wasn’t going to work.  
  
However, this time - while EDI and the others had been scanning the system for the location of the ship, Garrus had been doing some modifications to his omni tool. He’d managed to sacrifice some other functions to boost his ability to overload by double its normal power, if he could take that mercs shields down, make Shepard aware of him earlier – then they’d both get out of there alive.  
  
“You getting the feeling this is a little too easy?” Shepard asked as they dove into cover, picking off the few mercs in view as they entered the third deck.  
  
“Yep.” He replied quickly as he sent a shot clean through the furthest mercenarys skull.  
  
“Tali, status report.” He heard Shepard ask as the merc fell.  
  
“ _We almost have the area secured, no problems_.”  
  
“Good job, keep it up.” Shepard replied back, before turning to him once more. “Picking up anything?”  
  
“Maybe.” He lied. “The energy is messing with my visor, but we need to be careful, I think I’m reading one back there.”  
  
“Alright, hold back and cover me.” She ordered. “Nothing we can’t handle”  
  
Garrus took cover once more, readying his omni tool. He watched Shepard carefully as she made her way around the boxes scattered through the room, pistol ready.  
  
“Shepard, watch your right!” He yelled just as he expected the merc to appear at the door.  
  
Garrus watched as his warning registered in her eyes as the mercenary Commander rounded the corner right on time. Shepard attempted to push him back with her biotics as he sent an overload to the mercs shields, cracking his kinetic barrier.  
  
Shepard moved backwards, pulling up her pistol as he pulled his shotgun on her.  
Garrus watched in horror as the shotgun blast ripped through her barriers once more before the merc fell from the bullet she had put in his head.  This time the blast hit her midsection, sending a splatter of organic and synthetic materials to the wall behind her.  
  
Shepard still stood there, looking down slightly where the blast had hit her, before looking back towards Garrus as her legs finally gave way.  
  
“ _Jane!_ ” his voice echoed through the empty room as he jumped the crate in front of him and ran towards her.  
  
“Mordin I need you up here _now._ ” Garrus yelled through the comms as he slid down to the floor beside Shepard.  
  
“Garrus, it-it just –“  
  
“I know.” He said, trying to administer some medi-gel, he had no idea what to do, there was a huge hole where the strange shot had hit. The sight of the shattered cybernetics and the blood _everywhere_ was sickening.  
  
“S’not going to work Garrus.” She said, starting to shake. “Feels like last time.”  
  
“No.” Garrus ordered as he pulled her into his arms, slowly resting her head on his legs. “Mordin is coming, we’ll get you back to the ship, you are _not_ leaving again.”  
  
“Miranda’s going to be pissed all her hard work has gone to waste, apologize for me ok?” Shepard let out a small laugh despite the turian shaking his head at her. “Don’t let it be like last time, Garrus. You all need to work together to stop them, I _know_ you can.”  
  
“Not without you, damn it-”  
  
“Garrus, _please._ ” Shepard cut him off. “My cybernetics are the only thing keeping me going right now, it can’t be like last time.”  
“It won’t be.” _You won’t be alone this time._  
  
Shepard gave him a shaky smile as he pushed a few stray pieces of hair from her face.  “EDI will have some messages for you; one is for the mission – information only I’ve known until now, it’ll help you get the council off their arses. The others are for you and Tali, I had them just in case I – _fuck_.” She let out a groan of pain and  
  
Garrus knew she didn’t have long.  
  
“I will fix this.” He told her quietly. “I promise.”  
  
“No, no fixing. No Lazarus bullshit. I’ve had a second chance, don’t you _dare_ let Cerberus near me again.” Shepard countered, tears running down from the corners of her eyes.  
  
“I won’t.” Garrus pulled her closer, taking her hand in his, leaning down and resting his forehead against hers, it was cold.  
  
Cerberus weren’t going to fix this. He was.  
  
“I’ve been so lucky to have more time with everyone, to have you.” She finally said, squeezing his hand back as much as she could. “I love you, you know.”  
  
“Don’t go.” Garrus choked out. _Turn back, turn back, turn back._  
  
He barely heard the rest of the team yelling out to them, _him,_ as they entered the top floor, as Shepards hand let go of his own - her body still and silent, eyes lifeless as he pulled himself back.    
  
It was the first time he’d ever seen her look truly at peace.  
  
 _Turnbackturnbackturnback._  
  
“Garrus. Where is-”  
  
Mordin stopped mid-sentence as Thane moved the cargo box aside, the four of them looking down in shock at the silent Turian holding their Commanders body. The last thing Garrus heard was Tail’s anguished shriek as she pushed past the Professor.  
  
The world began to shake, crackled around him and went white once more.

 


	3. Day 3

 

The familiar sensation of being pulled backwards hit Garrus once more as he felt his body land against the hard floor of the Normandys main battery, his head aching intensely.  
  
But nothing was moving this time.  
  
 _Fuck!_ Garrus hauled himself up from the floor, letting out a sigh of relief as he noted the distinct lack of human blood on his hands. He pulled up his omni-tool to check the time. 0424 hours in the AM, about half an hour before the Normandy experienced the first wave. _The artefact is becoming more unstable and -_  
  
Garrus stopped completely as he finally realised what Joker meant. It was Shepard, her death was the trigger. But _why?_

He bolted from the main battery to the elevator at the end of the mess and headed straight for Shepard’s cabin. No more, this was the last time he was living through this hell forsaken day and he needed _help._

“Shepard!” He yelled at her cabin door. “I need to-”

It opened after a few moments with a hiss to reveal a very unamused Commander.  
“Garrus.” She pushed her messy hair from face. “Do you know what time it is?”

“I do, and I would be here if it wasn’t important.” He implored. “I need to talk to you, _please_.”

“Ok, ok.” She replied with a yawn, gesturing for him to come in. “What’s going on?”  
Garrus stopped in front of her fish tank and turned towards her. “I need you to hear me out, or this will all make even less sense than it already does.”

Shepard crossed her arms across her chest as she stepped back, leaning against the fish tank. “I’m listening.”

Garrus exhaled still trying to figure out the best way to explain everything. “Today will be the third time I’ve lived through most of this day.” He started. “Soon the Normandy will be hit by a wave of energy that’s coming off a star in the next system over that is generating large amounts of dark energy. It interrupts our systems but we end up locating the ship we’re looking for, we board it.”

He held up a hand to stop Shepard’s imminent interruption. “You and I go to secure the artefact we’re after, and you - you die.” Garrus shook his head, the smell of her blood still strong in his memory. “Then I get sent back here by whatever the fuck is on that ship.”

“I stuffed it all up so badly last time.” Garrus continued, as she went to speak again.

 “I couldn’t save you. I know everything has been weird with us lately but I fucking love you Jane, and I can’t watch you die again.”

For the first time since Garrus had known Jane Shepard, she was speechless, opening her mouth to go and say something with nothing coming out.

“I’m fully aware I sound crazy, but I can prove it.” Garrus said, replying to the look of utter confusion on her face. “You said you’d had a second chance and to not let Cerberus near your body again. You said EDI would have a message from you for myself and for Tali, as well as one for the mission. I don’t know what they were exactly, but you said you had them just in case-”

“-in case I died unexpectedly again.” She finished in disbelief as the information she hadn’t shared with anyone was repeated back to her. “Only EDI knows about those files.”

“Commander.” EDIs holographic form appeared at the terminal behind her. “There have been no attempts or accidental attempts to access those particular files.”

“I would never have told you or anyone else about those unless -” Shepards eyes were wide and looking at him intently now. “You aren’t joking about this.”

Garrus exhaled with relief. “I’m really not.”

Shepard finally moved towards him and ushered the distressed Turian to sit down on her desk chair “Who went with us to the ship we find?”

“Mordin, Tali, Thane and Samara” He listed off for her, leaning down and resting his elbows on his legs, burying his face in the palms of his hands.  

“EDI,” Shepard called out to the AI, “get the crew up, we’re going on full alert for the next twenty four hours. Tell Miranda, Tali, Thane and Samara that I want them suited up and in Mordins lab in twenty. Tell the rest of the team to be on standby and send through that data to the communications room once this wave has hit the ship.”

“Yes, Commander.” EDI replied before disappearing from sight.

“Garrus.” She said quietly, leaning back against her desk and putting a hand on his shoulder. “Look at me.”

Shepard was taken aback when he focused his eyes back on her, the last time she’d seen that _look_ in his eyes was when she found him on Omega. Garrus didn’t get upset or worked up for no reason, for the most part he kept his shit together almost as well as she did.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this.” She explained. “I need you to go and suit up, and head over to Mordin.” She gently leant her head down and pressed her forehead to his own.

 “I’m not going anywhere.”

_  
\-------------------------_

  
“Look.” Miranda commented as Mordin tinkered away at his console. Shepard had just finished explaining the situation. “We’ve all been under a lot of stress lately, are you sure he’s not-”

“Defiantly not crazy.” Mordin cut in finally with a conclusive answer from his scans of various members of the team. “Abnormal energy readings much higher on everyone present on this ship during the time shift.  Fascinating.”

“I told you.” Garrus replied smugly in Miranda’s direction.

“Garrus called it, Miranda. That shockwave hit us right when he said it would.” Shepard interrupted. “If it turns out that the rest is bullshit I will commit Garrus _and_ myself to whatever anti-psychotics you want - but until then, we figure out a way to fix this time shift _thing._ ”

“Use Garrus’ knowledge of events. Figure out a plan of attack most effective to counteract the loop trigger.” Mordin confirmed.

“Everything is starting to…converge.” Garrus told the salarian. “It’s getting harder to distinguish between what happened on which loop, my head is killing me.”

“I could perhaps offer a solution Commander.” Samara’s eloquent voice piped up from the other side of the room. “With Garrus’ consent, I could join our minds and help sort through the overlapping memories, pick up any important information.”

Shepard frowned at the memories of Liara helping piece together the beacon visions. Nothing had ever given her a migraine quite like those damn beacons.

“Do it.” Garrus said, bringing Shepard out of her thoughts. “If it’ll help. Do it.”

“You sure, Garrus?” She asked. “I’m not going to lie, the whole melding thing with Liara wasn’t exactly pleasant – No offence intended, Samara.”

“None taken, Shepard.” Samara replied. “But Miss T’Soni is quite young, I am well practiced.”

Shepard looked between the apprehensive members of her team before finally giving in. “Ok, everyone else into the comm room to look at whatever EDI has pulled by now.”

They all gave her a nod, Tali squeezing Garrus’ shoulder as she followed the others out of Mordins lab. Samara walked forward, placing herself directly in front of the turian.

“Now.” She instructed, as Shepard stepped back, giving them space. “You must focus on what you want me to see, instead of what you don’t want me to see. Start with the first time you boarded the ship and we will go from there.”

“Ok.” Garrus exhaled. _The cargo bay. That was the first place. Focus on the cargo bay._ “I’m ready.”

“Relax, Garrus.” Samara closed her eyes. “ _Embrace eternity_.”

It was a bizarre feeling as he watched himself, Shepard and the rest of the team go through into the cargo bay.

“You are doing well, just keep following through where you went next.” Samara was beside him, and it was relatively easy with her help. They followed himself and

Shepard up the stairs and to where they encountered the merc Commander.

Everything slowed as Samara took in the scene. Examining exactly how the events occurred. He looked away when the shot hit Shepard.

“Now focus on the second day.”

_The cargo bay, back to the cargo bay._

Everything in front of him blurred and they were exactly where he wanted them to be, repeating the process with Samara walking him through it. Garrus had been so damn caught up on concentrating on their assault of the ship trying to piece together as much as possible with Samara that when they finally reached the end, he realised what he had to watch again. It had barely been an hour for him since it’d happened.

Samara was intently examining what she could see of the mercenary Commanders weapons, ammunition, and the blast that sent Shepard to the floor. She stood back, watching Garrus crumble to the floor and tend to a dying Jane Shepard.

“You have relived this day enough, I am sorry.” Samara placed a hand gently on his shoulder. He turned away, trying not to think about everything Shepard dying in his arms reminded him of, but it was too late.

The world blurred again.

_“She didn’t make it to the pods Garrus.”_ Liara. Crying in his arms at the Citadel spaceport. _“She told Kaidan to go and she went back to get Joker.”_

_“You left her there Kaidan_!” Liara in front of him, separating himself and Kaidan. _“You left her to die!”_

_“You. Left. Us. You weren’t there Garrus. Don’t you fucking dare-”_

_“Please!”_ Tali begging them to stop as she tried to hold back her sobs. _“We are a team, we are friends. Shepard wouldn’t want this.”_

_“Shepard is dea-!”_

Another blur.

_“We’ll be back in three, four weeks tops.”_ Sitting up on the Presidium with Shepard, that smug grin she had on her face every time she started teasing him. _“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you Garrus.”_

_“You’ll have to fix the mako yourself Shepa-”_

Another.

Andersons office at the Embassy. _“The Normandy was-”_

He felt himself being pulled back, the memories faded and he was back in Mordins lab, Shepard with her arms around him, easing him down to the floor.  
“- Samara, are you alright?”

He looked up at Shepards concerned tone for the asari, seeing her leaning against Mordins table. “I am fine, just a little tired.”

“Garrus?” Shepard was in front of his face now, trying to get his attention. “You almost hit the deck there.”

He nodded, trying to get a grip back on reality. He’d tried so damn hard not to think about all that for a long time. “I’m sorry Samara, I didn’t mean-”

“You made an understandable connection between the day’s events and your past experiences.” Samara said, stopping him and straightening back up into her usual composure. “And I gained much information from your memories, we will be successful this time.”

_  
\-------------------------_

  
For what Garrus hoped was the last time, he entered the cargo bay of the MSV Khronos with his team mates. They had formed two full teams this time. Tali, Thane, Mordin, Grunt and Jack were going to take the first floor and engineering deck while Shepard, Samara, Kasumi, Legion and himself and were taking the upper floors.

_“We enter through the emergency hatch in the cargo bay, all the guards and personnel here are dead.” Samara explained as EDI brought up the schematic of the vessel in the comm room. They had extracted the layout prior to entering this time._

_“The vessel is split into four levels, the engineering deck, and decks one to three.” Shepard explained. “We’ll be splitting up into two teams of five. Alpha team will take the engineering and first deck, securing any data from the ship. Beta will take the second and third and find the artefact.”_

They once again divided into their respective teams upon leaving the cargo bay, Tali and her team veering off to the left and theirs to the right.

_“Here we have our key event. This mercenary appeared to have modded ammunition, possibly being affected by either the artefact or effects of the energy in this system - which is what makes it deadly to anyone it hits.”_

_“We cannot let this guy hit anyone, or it’s over.” Garrus added. “It rips through barriers and armour like they don’t even exist.”_

_“Can’t we just blast the fuck out of this guy?” Jack asked from her place against the wall._

_"Been there. Tried that. Didn't work."        Garrus replied with a shake of his head._

_“What the fuck can even do that though?”_

_“The suns have been investing in experimental weaponry for some time now.” Garrus explained. “They must have finally developed something.”_

“Tali, status.” Shepard said, clicking her earpiece.

“ _Mercs have been eliminated, Commander._ ” Tali replied quickly. “ _We have begun the data mine, and I took out their internal communications ten minutes ago_.”

“Good job Alpha.” Shepard called back before addressing her team. “Alright, this is it. Kasumi, Garrus – charge it up.”

They both gave her a quick nod as they charged their overloads and moved swiftly into the room. Legion held back switching to his heavy sniper rifle as Kasumi and Garrus moved forward, Shepard and Samara not far behind, biotics at the ready.

Garrus let out a slow breath as they waited, they were hoping that the mercs appearance would happen, even without Shepard walking to investigate the back rooms.

Their patience was rewarded when the mercenary Commander appeared at the doorway, armed with his shotgun, but with no target in range.

Garrus and Kasumi overloaded his shields, shattering them in one hit. The pulled their own weapons back out as Shepard and Samara sent an assult of biotics to his position, knocking him back before the three remaining team members opened fire.

It was quick, efficient and extremely effective, unlike Garrus’ last two experiences.

“I’ll go check him.” Garrus said, cautiously beginning to move towards the body at the back doorway.

“Remember what happened last time you did that? No.” Shepard cut in. “Kasumi, go dark. Legion be ready.”

“You got it, Shep.” Kasumi replied before disappearing.

Shepard and Samara readied their biotics, as they all closed in.

“Oh yeah, he’s dead.” Kasumi said, appearing beside Garrus. “He might have some crazy ammunition but he was still just a merc.”

Shepard moved past Garrus and raised her pistol, putting one more bullet in the man’s head. He was done.

 “Let’s get this thing and get the hell off this ship.” Shepard said to her team before pulling up her pistol and rounding the corner to the last room.

The others followed cautiously behind her, weapons and biotics at the ready as she hit the button to open the back storage room.

“Well this certainly looks familiar.” Garrus commented at the looked at the artefact. It was a silver, prothean, pulsating sphere.

Shepard put her pistol back to its place on her hip as she stepped in front of the artefact. “Here goes nothing.”

She pressed her hands against the sphere to pick it up, letting out a gasp as the artefact lit up with a bright white light.

_“What is it Commander?”_

_Shepard was looking down on…herself, Garrus and Tali. Over two years ago._   
_“An artefact maybe?” She watched herself say. “Liara would-” she began to recall what happened next. Other Shepard frowned as she reached into one of the pockets on her suit._

_“This thing is responding to it?” She said, pulling out the trinket the asari consort had given her months earlier._

_“Look, there’s a slot.” Garrus pointed out._

_Shepard watched herself lean closer, putting the trinket in the slot before everything went white again._

_  
\-------------------------_

  
_“This little thing here.” Shepard explained, switching the now small silver artefact from one hand to the other. “Has met us before.”_

_Miranda and Mordin exchanged a look. “’Met you?’” The XO asked._

_Shepard gave her a grin before continuing. “It’s probably the same artefact I activated on Eletania over two years ago. It remembered Tali, Garrus and I, showed me before it deactivated.”_   
  
_“Hm.” Mordin pondered. “Formed attachment. Maybe. Recognised Shepard, saw her death an anomaly. ”_

_“And tried to fix it?” Miranda suggested._

_“Precisely.” Mordin nodded. “Many unknown factors, could have studied but artefact no longer active. Shame.”_

The Commander let out a sigh as she finally emerged from her bathroom, ready for bed. The time on her terminal finally indicating that it was past midnight in the ships current day/night cycle, and the mess from the day’s events was cleaned up and filed away.

Except for the little silver sphere, that now sat next to the terminal on her desk.

Giving one last look at the object she made her way over to her bed.  
 _  
“What’s the diagnosis?”_  
 _  
Garrus gave her a tried grin. “Take these and sleep it off.” He explained, shaking the little container containing two little pills. “But I still have to-”  
_  
 _“No.” Shepard cut him off. “You are officially off duty Vakarian. Go use my quarters, take those, and go to sleep.”  
_  
 _“I can’t-”  
_  
 _“It’s either that or I’m camping out in the battery. Your choice.”  
_  
Garrus was still sound asleep. He had barely moved the entire time she’d been finishing up her mission reports, whatever Chakwas had given him was heavy duty.  
  
Shepard gently moved the covers back, climbing into the free side of her bed and finally resting her head down on her pillow.  
  
“Hey.” Garrus said groggily from beside her, snaking a hand around her waist and pulling her closer.  
  
“Guess what? The day is officially over.” Shepard told him, leaning back against his plated chest and intertwining her fingers with his. “How’re you feeling?”  
  
“Hazy.” He mumbled back.  
  
 _“You have already experienced death once, Shepard.” Samara told her. “From what I saw, you have found acceptance of your own death. While you may not wish to die, you are ready to accept it when it happens. I believe Garrus and Tali’Zorah do not share this same acceptance.”  
_  
 _The asari gave her a small smile. “And neither do the rest of us.”_  
  
“Go back to sleep” Shepard replied with a small laugh as the Turian buried his face against her neck. “Garrus?”  
  
“Mm.”  
  
“I love you too.”  
  
Shepard felt Garrus squeeze her hand before sleep took him once more.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kmeme Prompt:
> 
> Soooo we all stumble over those difficult points in game, where for whatever reason, everything goes wrong, Shepard goes down and that damnable Critical Mission Failure music starts up. Then you have to reload from the last save point, do everything all over again with a slightly different strategy, and hope you don't die again. Sometimes you have to repeat something several times over and over again.
> 
> I want a fic wherein this actually happens to Shepard and someone on her team (Her LI?) notices. I.E., the same events repeating themselves and ending horribly over and over again. Like the plot of Groundhog Day, or Mystery Spot from SPN.
> 
> Que LI's reaction-figuring out the patterns, panicked pleading, trying to prove and explain things to the crew and everyone thinking he's crazy, Mordin wanting samples for science, Shepard annoyed at her authority being questioned...
> 
> Can be cracky, can be serious and angsty, I don't mind. I just really want Garrus (or another LI, if you prefer, anon) to be freaking out trying to fix things, save Shepard, and make the mission end successfully.
> 
> Or maybe they don't succeed after all :( Up to you, potential a!anons!


End file.
